ESL Lesson Plan for Easter Easter: "A Popular Western Holiday"

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ESL Activities for Easter - Easter ESL LessonEaster: A Popular Western Holiday

Easter: A Popular Western Holiday

Pre-Reading Discussion

When something is ‘commercialized’ it is made popular by corporations and big business so that people will buy things associated with it. Discuss with people in your group other examples of things which became commercialized. Why, or how have they become commercialized? What are some examples of commercialization? (holidays – what was the original meaning why do you think it is now commercialized?

Examples :

Christmas has become very commercial in the United States. People no longer think about its real meaning, being the birth of Christ, the corporate world now dominates Christmas with their advertising and marketing ploys designed to get you and me to spend our money in their stores.

You try : Easter, Valentines Day, (a holiday in your country)

Learning Vocabulary from Context

Read the text below, if there are any words you don’t understand put a circle around them, circle no more than 3 words per paragraph.

Easter is a major holiday in the West. It is a combination of the sacred (religious) and the pagan. For Christians, the holiday represents the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Good Friday symbolizes the day that He died and the Sunday, the day that he rose from the dead. The Easter holiday can take place anytime between March 22 and April 25 th. Its date is not fixed. The pagan portion of the holiday includes what many people have come to most associate with Easter, the Easter bunny, Easter eggs and the ever famous Easter egg hunt which occurs in nearly every community in the United States (and other parts of the West). Below, we will take a look at the festive aspect of this popular, Western holiday.

The commercialism of Easter has reached record levels. For many people, the holiday is all about the candy, Easter egg hunts and the Easter bunny. Each of these has pagan, or non-religious origins and have nothing to do with the sacred meaning of the holiday mentioned earlier.

The term Easter, comes from the Saxon goddess Eastre. Eastre was the goddess of the spring, dawn and fertility. Every year, she halted winter and its dark, shortened days. In its place, she helped bring about light and longer days. When she performed her work, the plants would bloom and both human and animal offspring would increase in number. The animal that Eastre was most associated with was the rabbit. This association inspired the term, the Easter Bunny, the character that is most closely tied with the holiday.

Today, few people associate the Easter Bunny with the pagan goddess Eastre. Instead, most individuals, both adults and children, associate it with a fun, family holiday that includes Easter baskets filled with candy, Easter egg hunts for the children and perhaps Sunday church services.

Easter is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year, especially for young children who are the recipients of delicious chocolates, jelly beans and other assorted candies. Churches and local communities will often host an Easter egg hunt. These are always a lot of fun for everyone involved. Adults will hide Easter eggs for the children to find. These Easter eggs will either be hard boiled eggs that are decorated with colored dyes or plastic eggs filled with candy or trinkets (small toys). Each kid will search for the eggs and place them in their basket, which are taken home at the end of the hunt. Most kids also receive special Easter baskets from their parents. Their parents may make them themselves or purchase them from the store. They will most often contain candies and toys.

Compare the words you have circled with a neighbor and try to decide from context what they mean. Start by deciding what part of speech the word is (noun, verb, adjective, adverb etc.)

Reading Comprehension

Look at the table and make notes about the word or phrase on the left after reading the text.

Word or Phrase

Your Notes

Pagan

Resurrection

Eastre

Bunny

Children

The Past Simple

Complete the table of irregular verbs.

Infinitive (Base Form)

Past Simple

Past Participle

Eat

Speak

Sing

find

Cost

Eaten

Spoken

Sung

Found

Cost

Read the following statements and tick the ones you think are correct for the Past Simple.

Describes an event that happened a long time ago in the past

Describes an event that happened in the recent past

Describes an event that started in the past but hasn’t yet finished

If often used in stories

Text Revision

Below is the text about Easter you read. WITHOUT READING THE TEXT ABOVE AGAIN, rearrange the paragraphs so that they are in the correct order.

The commercialism of Easter has reached record levels. For many people, the holiday is all about the candy, Easter egg hunts and the Easter bunny. Each of these has pagan, or non-religious origins and have nothing to do with the sacred meaning of the holiday mentioned earlier.

Today, few people associate the Easter Bunny with the pagan goddess Eastre. Instead, most individuals, both adults and children, associate it with a fun, family holiday that includes Easter baskets filled with candy, Easter egg hunts for the children and perhaps Sunday church services.

The term Easter, comes from the Saxon goddess Eastre. Eastre was the goddess of the spring, dawn and fertility. Every year, she halted winter and its dark, shortened days. In its place, she helped bring about light and longer days. When she performed her work, the plants would bloom and both human and animal offspring would increase in number. The animal that Eastre was most associated with was the rabbit. This association inspired the term, the Easter Bunny, the character that is most closely tied with the holiday.

Easter is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year, especially for young children who are the recipients of delicious chocolates, jelly beans and other assorted candies. Churches and local communities will often host an Easter egg hunt. These are always a lot of fun for everyone involved. Adults will hide Easter eggs for the children to find. These Easter eggs will either be hard boiled eggs that are decorated with colored dyes or plastic eggs filled with candy or trinkets (small toys). Each kid will search for the eggs and place them in their basket, which are taken home at the end of the hunt. Most kids also receive special Easter baskets from their parents. Their parents may make them themselves or purchase them from the store. They will most often contain candies and toys.

Easter is a major holiday in the West. It is a combination of the sacred (religious) and the pagan. For Christians, the holiday represents the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Good Friday symbolizes the day that He died and the Sunday, the day that he rose from the dead. The Easter holiday can take place anytime between March 22 and April 25 th. Its date is not fixed. The pagan portion of the holiday includes what many people have come to most associate with Easter, the Easter bunny, Easter eggs and the ever famous Easter egg hunt which occurs in nearly every community in the United States (and other parts of the West). Below, we will take a look at the festive aspect of this popular, Western holiday.

Put the letter of each paragraph next to the number below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Compare your answers with a partner.

Free Discussion Activity

Can you think of another tradition that has been affected by commercialism? Discuss it with people in your group.

Writing Activity

The Easter bunny is a common animal connected with Easter. Research another animal that is associated with a holiday or tradition and write about it.